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awk and POSIX character class

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# 1  
Old 10-04-2010
awk and POSIX character class
can anyone tell me why this doesn't work? I've been trying to play with character classes and I seem to be missing something here..!

Code:
echo "./comparecdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare[[:alnum:]+][.]summary$/' # returns nothing
echo "./compare_cdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare_[[:alnum:]+][.]summary$/' # returns nothing
echo "./compare_cdna_peptide.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare_[[_[:alnum:]]+][.]summary$/' # returns nothing
echo "./compare_cdna_peptide.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare_[[:word:]+][.]summary$/' # returns: awk: fatal: Invalid character class name: /^[.][/]compare_[[:word:]+][.]summary$/

Thanks!!
Anthony
# 2  
Old 10-04-2010
In reference to your first example:
Code:
$ echo "./comparecdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][\/]compare[[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/'
./comparecdna.summary

1) You need to escape the the "/" within the regular expression since it's used to delimit the expression itself.
2) [[:alnum:]+] is not the same thing as [[:alnum:]]+
The former matches one character, an alphanumeric or a plus sign; the latter matches 1 or more alphanumerics.

Regards,
Alister
# 3  
Old 10-04-2010
try this,
Code:
echo "./compare_cdna_peptide.summary" | awk '/^\.\/compare_[[:alpha:]].+\.summary$/'

# 4  
Old 10-04-2010
thanks guys,
here's the revised version:

Code:
echo "./comparecdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare[[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/' # returns: ./comparecdna.summary
echo "./compare_cdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare_[[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/' # returns: ./compare_cdna.summary
echo "./compare_cdna_peptide.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare_[_[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/' # returns: ./compare_cdna_peptide.summary
[:word:] is non-standard POSIX apparently

alister, the "/" seems not need be escaped here, maybe because it's by itself within the []?

pravin27, doesn't "[[:alpha:]].+" means "a letter followed by any characters once or more" ?
# 5  
Old 10-04-2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by anthalamus
thanks guys,
here's the revised version:

Code:
echo "./comparecdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare[[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/' # returns: ./comparecdna.summary
echo "./compare_cdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare_[[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/' # returns: ./compare_cdna.summary
echo "./compare_cdna_peptide.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare_[_[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/' # returns: ./compare_cdna_peptide.summary
[:word:] is non-standard POSIX apparently

alister, the "/" seems not need be escaped here, maybe because it's by itself within the []?
It is required according to the posix standard. I strongly suggest that you do not depend on your implementation's behavior. Perhaps your awk allows that, but when run on a different implementation it may choke thusly:

Code:
$ echo "./comparecdna.summary" | awk '/^[.][/]compare[[:alnum:]]+[.]summary$/'
awk: nonterminated character class ^[.][
 source line number 1
 context is
         >>> /^[.][/ <<<

AWK thinks it's an unterminated class because the regular expression delimiter is encountered.

For more info, read the "Regular Expressions" section @ awk

Regards,
Alister
This User Gave Thanks to alister For This Post:
anthalamus
# 6  
Old 10-04-2010
wicked, thanks that's gonna be really useful!
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